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Celebrated for its energetic and lively interpretations, the Signum Quartet has established itself as one of the most exciting young ensembles of its generation. Their 2013 recording of quartets by Bartók, Schnittke and Berg was the recipient of the International Classical Music Awards 2014 “Best Chamber Music Recording.”

- See more at: http://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/tuesday-matinees-signum-quartet#sthash.84U5eUUb.dpuf

Dana Newman, newly named President of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Board of Directors

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, one of the nation’s leading orchestras renowned for its wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous commissioning initiatives, has named attorney Dana Newman President of the Board of Directors, announced LACO Executive Director Rachel Fine. The Altadena resident succeeds Gene Shutler, who assumes the role of Chairman of the Board after completing a three-year term as President. Fine also announced the appointment of four new board members to three-year terms: Ahsan Aijaz (Los Angeles), vice president, Fortress Investment Group; Leslie Lassiter (Beverly Hills), Los Angeles market manager, J.P. Morgan Private Bank; Raulee Marcus (Long Beach), president, Pinnacle Management; and attorney Shaheen Nanji (Pacific Palisades), principal, Integrated Technologies Group and community leader.
“Dana Newman’s visionary and inspiring leadership, commitment to LACO, exceptional business skills and proven accomplishments as a community builder and immense passion for music and the arts will help propel the Orchestra forward as we look to its 50th anniversary and beyond,” says Fine. “We are also most grateful to Gene Shutler for his outstanding guidance. During his tenure as President, he helped LACO successfully navigate our country’s challenging economic times while ensuring the Orchestra thrived financially as well as artistically. We deeply appreciate that he will remain on the Board as Chairman. Additionally, we welcome Ahsan Aijaz, Leslie Lassiter, Raulee Marcus and Shaheen Nanji to the Board. With their forward-thinking leadership and keen business acumen, they will be wonderful ambassadors for LACO.”

Newman is a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, based in Pillsbury’s downtown Los Angeles office. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she earned her undergraduate degree at Yale University, a Masters in Tax from the University of New Haven, and a J.D. from UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall). She practices tax, partnership, real estate and tax-exempt finance law, with an emphasis on advising domestic and foreign clients on tax aspects of US partnership, corporate and real property transactions. She represents clients in a broad array of industries and activities, including projects qualifying for various federal and state tax credit programs, real estate investment and development, manufacturing, food services, aviation and development funds. During her long career with Pillsbury, Newman has served in a variety of management positions with the firm. A long-time supporter and advocate of pro bono work, Newman has recently been named as the Chair of Pillsbury’s Pro Bono Committee. Newman’s personal pro bono efforts have involved providing significant pro bono legal services to a number of nonprofit corporations developing affordable housing in Los Angeles, including representation of Ward Economic Development Corporation as one of the developers of the Rosa Parks Villas Project, Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance as one of the developers of the New Hampshire Family Housing Project, and Pacific Housing Alliance as the developer of the Euclid Villa Project in Pasadena. Over the years, she has also provided pro bono assistance for a variety of other nonprofits, including Five Acres, Union Station, Southern California Presbyterian Homes, Westminster Gardens and the Pasadena Presbyterian Church Foundation. Newman has received recognition and awards for her efforts from the California State Bar, Public Counsel and many of her pro bono clients. Newman and her husband, Ned, are one of the sponsors of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church’s Friends of Music concerts. Long-time LACO subscribers, they are devoted fans of Baroque Conversations, enthusiastic First Chair Society members and gala patrons, and supporters of Sound Investment since 2005.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra is considered one of the world’s premier chamber orchestras as well as a leader in presenting wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous commissions. Its 2014-15 season, the Orchestra’s 46th, features a compelling mix of beloved masterpieces and genre-defying premieres from firmly established as well as notable up-and-coming composers programmed by Jeffrey Kahane, one of the world’s foremost conductors and pianists, who marks his 18th season as LACO’s music director.

AHSAN AIJAZ is a Vice President of the Credit Funds at Fortress Investment Group. As a former investment banker, Aijaz provided strategic advisory services and structured multimillion-dollar bond financings for companies such as ABB Inc, Baker Hughes Inc., Borders Group Inc., Eli Lilly Inc., General Electric, Hy-Vee Inc., Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, Tyco International, V.F. Corporation and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Prior to joining Fortress, Aijaz ran the Structured Finance Group at a private equity firm in Los Angeles. Prior to that he started and ran the Corporate Finance Investment Banking practice for Butler, Wick & Co., Inc., now a division of Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Aijaz began his career at McDonald Investment Inc., a division of Key Bank, as an investment banker. He holds a BS in Finance from the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, where he served as a research assistant on a paper titled “The Determinants of Credit Spread Changes,” published in the Journal of Finance, Vol. 56, No. 6. He is a member of the Corporate Treasurer’s Council of the Association for Financial Professionals and ICSC, the global trade association of the shopping center industry. Aijaz has also served on the Advisory Board of Real Medicine Foundation, a humanitarian relief organization founded in response to the December 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. He is an accomplished pilot and member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

LESLIE LASSITER is a managing director and market manager for J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank business in Southern California. A veteran banker, Lassiter joined Chase Manhattan Bank in 1979. During her more than 30 years with the firm, she has held a number of senior leadership positions in both the Investment Bank and the Private Bank. She joined the Private Banking business in 2000. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Lassiter managed a significant portion of the Private Bank’s New York City business as the market manager for the New York metro area. Previously, she led the strategic planning office for Chase Manhattan’s wholesale business and prior to that, she managed corporate finance efforts for the Investment Bank’s Latin American region. Lassiter earned a bachelor’s degree in quantitative economics from Scripps College and a MBA from the University of Chicago. She has served on the Board of Trustees of Scripps College since 2000 and currently chairs the Institutional Advancement Committee of the Board. In 2013, she joined the board of the United Way of Los Angeles. An avid arts lover, she is a former board member of Jacaranda Music and jointly sponsored the appearances of Jennifer Koh and Jeremy Denk on LACO’s 2013-14 concert season.

Named “one of ten women entrepreneurs changing the game in LA” by Forbes magazine, president of marketing consultancy Pinnacle Management RAULEE MARCUS is a specialist in driving companies to significant growth in revenue and profit in highly competitive industries. Her professional experience ranges from senior operating positions in major corporations such as Neutrogena and Colgate-Palmolive to consulting for cutting-edge startups and advising the governments of India and China. She has served as the chair of the consumer products panel of Tech Coast Angels, the nation’s largest angel investor organization. A native of Frankfort, KY, Marcus is an alumna of Bryn Mawr College and the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy. While at Neutrogena, she also completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program. An avid ceramics hobbyist, Marcus serves on the board and executive committee of the American Museum of Ceramic Arts. Other involvement in the nonprofit arts community includes past and present membership on the boards of the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Jacaranda Music and Long Beach Opera. She is also a member of the board of overseers of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the board of governors of the Ojai Music Festival.

With degrees in law and business from the University of British Columbia, SHAHEEN NANJI has practiced civil litigation, worked as corporate counsel and marketing director for Magnet Sales & Manufacturing and, since 2000, has served as principal for Integrated Technologies Group where she heads up human resources. In addition, as a community leader, Nanji has served on the boards of Artwallah, a multi-disciplinary festival of arts of the South Asian diaspora, and the UCLA Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies. For more than a decade, she has also been deeply involved with the Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan Development Network, which address environmental, economic, health, educational, humanitarian and cultural challenges in Asia and Africa. Nanji has served as an AKDN communications coordinator and spokesperson in the Western Region; directed public relations for the Aga Khan Foundation Partnership Walk; and raised funds for AKF early childhood development programs. Fluent in seven languages, Nanji has a range of passions that include creative writing and promoting multiculturalism and interfaith dialogue through community outreach and events. She and husband, Anil, hosted LACO’s March 2014 First Chair musicale at their home in Pacific Palisades.

LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, proclaimed “America’s finest chamber orchestra” by Public Radio International and “resplendent” by the Los Angeles Times, has established itself among the world’s top musical ensembles. Since 1997, LACO has performed under the baton of acclaimed conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane, hailed by critics as “visionary” and “a conductor of uncommon intellect, insight and musical integrity” with “undeniable charisma,” “effortless musicality and extraordinary communicative gifts.” Under Kahane’s leadership, the Orchestra maintains its status as a preeminent interpreter of historical masterworks and a champion of contemporary composers. During its 46-year history, the Orchestra has made 31 recordings, toured Europe, South America and Japan, performed across North America and garnered eight ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming. Headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, LACO presents its Orchestral Series on Saturdays at Glendale’s Alex Theatre and on Sundays at UCLA’s Royce Hall; Baroque Conversations at downtown Los Angeles’ Zipper Concert Hall; Westside Connections chamber music series, designed to illustrate the relationship between music and other artistic disciplines, at the Moss Theater in Santa Monica; and an annual Discover concert, which features an in-depth examination that sheds new light on a single piece of music, at Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium. LACO also presents a Concert Gala, an annual Silent Film screening and several fundraising salons each year. Additionally, LACO outreach programs, Meet the Music, Community Partners, Campus to Concert Hall and the LACO/USC Thornton Strings Mentorship Program, reach thousands of young people annually, nurturing future musicians and composers as well as inspiring a love of classical music.

Brooklyn, NY: Roulette is honored to present William Parker and the “Tone Motion Theatre” Saturday, January 17, 2015 at 8pm. Featuring the New York premiere of Yes I Dreamed of Freedom, a moving tribute to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the fifth part of Parker’s work Flower In a Stained Glass Window.

Tickets can be purchased at http://roulette.org/events/william-parker-tone-motion-theatre/

About the program:

Flower In a Stained Glass Window
Part Five: Yes I Dreamed Of Freedom
This new work will have its New York Premiere performance on the eponymous holiday weekend and will be performed by the Transformational Music Ensemble, a new music chamber group lead by Keir Neuringer, the Spirit Catchers Ensemble, consisting of five improvising musicians composing on the spot: Daniel Carter, Joe McPhee, Hamid Drake, Cooper Moore and William Parker and, a vocal ensemble featuring Fay Victor, Kyoko Kitamura and Anais Maviel.

The Transformational Music Ensemble will interpret the written score composed by Parker, and will serve as both the back drop and catalyst to the improvisations being created by the Spirit Catchers Ensemble and words of the vocal ensemble. Dance choreographed by Patricia Nicholson.

The performance, a dedication to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, takes the audience back to the April 4, 1968. A dying Doctor King’s spirit leaves his body and as he transcends, he encounters a Lakota: Tašúŋke Witkó, who was rushing to the scene to bring him back to life through music, sound and movement. Instead of reminiscing of the past, they talk about how the revolution must come from within and that freedom cannot be handed out, it is already inside of us.

About Roulette
Roulette – one of New York City’s premiere venues for experimental music for over 33 years – has reopened bigger and better than ever. Located in a newly renovated 1920s Art Deco concert hall in Downtown Brooklyn, the new Roulette features two levels of seating for up to 400 people (600 standing), an expanded multi-channel sound system, projection screen for film and multi-media events, state-of-the-art lighting system, modular stage, and a specially designed floor to accommodate dance. Teamed with bold new programming, the new Roulette promises to be one of the most exciting places in New York City – if not the country – to experience adventurous music and art.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale – the renowned resident choir of Walt Disney Concert Hall led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon – and KUSC (91.5 FM) – the largest and most listened to classical public radio station in the country – have announced they are extending their broadcast partnership for two seasons, with 14 of the acclaimed choir’s Disney Hall concerts from the 2012|13, 2013|14 and 2014|15 seasons airing in two seven-week series, entitled “KUSC’s SoCal Sunday Night: The LA Master Chorale in Concert.” The first series of seven Sunday evening broadcasts, hosted by KUSC’s Alan Chapman, launches December 21, 2014, and runs through February 1, 2015. The second series runs December 2015 – January 2016. The two-hour weekly radio program, which runs from 7-9 PM, showcases the choir’s versatility and wide-ranging repertoire. KUSC broadcasts of the Los Angeles Master Chorale are supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Gershon, who personally selected the slate of concerts to be featured on the broadcast, states, “We greatly value our relationship with KUSC, the country’s leading classical music radio station, which reaches more than 800,000 listeners. Taking our music outside our concert hall and onto KUSC’s airwaves is a key component of the Chorale’s ongoing ‘on the stage, online and on the air’ initiative to expand its reach in the community and beyond.”

The first series opens December 21, 2014, 7 pm, with a broadcast of the Chorale’s holiday concert from last season, with Gershon conducting four seasonal classics – Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity, Stephen Paulus’s Christmas Dances, and selections from Nine Carols for Men’s Voices arranged by Vaughan Williams. (A full list of concerts to be broadcast this season is included below.)

For information on the Los Angeles Master Chorale broadcast series on KUSC, please visit www.KUSC.org, or www.LAMC.org.

The composer writes about the piece, “When the Jade String Trio asked me to compose a piece for them, they also sent me some Chinese folk music to incorporate into this swale. I cut up the songs (Little River and Jasmine Flower) into small pieces and made musical sections based on these cut-ups. Jasmine is a common name for plants that are intensely fragrant…(it) can grow in a swale of many different plants and the swale can simultaneously be 100% jasmine. It is evocative of warm days of bird song and passion, and fragrant, humid nights, full of dancing and romance. Consequently this swale has all these things implied within it, as well as some birds in the vines. All the themes are cut up and weave in and out of each other.” See the Trio’s performance of the work at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_B9guNs3MQ.

The program also includes works from Bach, Beethoven and Martinu, as well as Chinese Songs.

Steven R. Gerber’s Fanfare for the Voice of A-M-E-R-I-C-A will be performed by the Filharmonia Dolnoslaska, Piotr Gajewski, conductor, Friday, December 5 at 7:00 PM at Sala Koncertowa im. Stefana Strahla in Jelenia Gora, Poland. This will be part of the orchestra’s American Music Festival. Gerber will be guest composer for the event and will speak about the work.

The piece was written in 2002 and is scored for brass (3-4-3-1), timpani, and percussion (3). The Fanfare was commissioned to celebrate VOA’s 60th anniversary, and premiered at the VOA auditorium on a 9/11 memorial concert in 2003. The piece has since then been performed by the Wheeling Symphony, the Omaha Symphony, the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) Orchestra, and by the National Philharmonic Orchestra at the new Music Center at Strathmore as part of the 2005 ASOL convention. Hear the Fanfare at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7aq2yfxiYA.

New York-based composer Steven R. Gerber’s music has gained international attention as a result of Chandos, Koch and Arabesque CD releases featuring several of his major orchestral works, including Symphony No. 1, Kurt Nikkanen’s performance of the Violin Concerto and Jon Manasse’s performance of the Clarinet Concerto. His orchestral work Music in Dark Times was commissioned by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the four World Premiere performances took place in March, 2009, with Maestro Ashkenazy conducting the San Francisco Symphony. His chamber music is represented on Steven R. Gerber – Chamber Music, (Naxos 8.559618), featuring nine of his finest works in the genre, recorded by violinists Kurt Nikkanen, Cho-Liang Lin and Cyrus Beroukhim, cellist Brinton Smith and pianist Sara Davis Buechner. His most recent release is the Albany Records CD (Mostly) Piano Music (Troy 1416). Visit his website at http://www.stevengerber.com.

Lawrence Dillon’s Honey for solo piano will be given its World Premiere by pianist Yael Manor on Saturday, December 6@ 7:30 PMat Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A W. 13th Street in New York, New York. This will be part of a program presented by American Composers Alliance, sponsored by Friends of ACA and Alison Nowak.

The composer writes about the piece, “Honey is a meditation on the texture, longevity and adaptability of an 8000-year-old source of sweetness…An eight-minute composition built from a simple rising scale, Honey is in four sections, first treating the main figure fugally, then in a chorale texture, as an aria and as a dance.”

Other works on the program include music from the ACA archives and current works by Lionel Nowak, Otto Luening, Raoul Pleskow, Reinaldo Moya, Richard Cameron-Wolfe, and Karl Kroeger. Other performers include pianists Marc Peloquin and Christopher Oldfather (with Fredrica Wyman).

Naxos has issued Lawrence Dillon Violin Music (Catalogue No: 8.559644),featuring seven chamber worksperformed by violinist Danielle Belen, 2008 Grand Prize Winner of the Sphinx Competition. His other recent, critically-acclaimed CD release, Insects and Paper Airplanes, is on the Bridge label. His music is published by American Composers Alliance – http://composers.com/ and his website is at http://www.lawrencedillon.com/.

Meridian Project is pleased to announce a special performance celebrating the release of “Dark Matter,” a new multimedia album exploring cutting edge research in dark matter detection. Dr. Jeremy Chapman, a recent graduate of Brown University’s Particle Astrophysics Group, will discuss the latest developments in dark matter research in combination with music written and performed by Joshua Lantzy, Jacob Richman, Jamie Topper, and Kirsten Volness, video/projections by Caroline Doherty and Jacob Richman, and set design by Catherine Hood.

At the vanguard of Boston’s classical music scene, Odyssey Operaand the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP)present a co-production of the comedic, family opera Fantastic Mr. Fox. For one performance only, Fantastic Mr. Fox unites Odyssey Opera (a new, Boston-based opera company dedicated to exploring the full spectrum of adventurous repertoire), BMOP (the nation’s premier orchestra dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new orchestral music), the Boston Children’s Chorus, and some of today’s top vocal performers including baritone John Brancy and mezzo-soprano Krista River.

WHEN: Sunday, December 7 at 3:00pm (pre-concert talk at 2:00pm)

WHERE: Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street), Boston, T: Symphony

TICKETS: $30 and up/Students $10. To purchase, contact BMOP at bmop.org or 781.324.0396. Also available from the Jordan Hall box office in person.

The New York City Electroacoustic Music Society is dedicated to bringing the finest electroacoustic music from all over the world to New York City, through annual, multi-day festivals and performances in a variety of venues. Programs are designed to expose audiences to current trends in electroacoustic music, to support the innovative nature of the field and to celebrate its music. With participants coming from all over the world, NYCEMS also serves to provide a time and place for composers, performers and engineers to gather, exchange ideas and share their works. More about them at http://www.meetup.com/New-York-City-Electroacoustic-Music-Society.